When should I trademark my business name?

The main questions I get from new business owners is should they trademark and when to trademark. And I can understand why, there can be a lot of confusion when it comes to trademarking, especially when it comes to registering a trademark vs. setting up an LLC.

Why register for a trademark?

Trademarking is good for protecting things like your logo, business names, course names, product names… basically anything that you’re using as an identifier for goods and services within your business. Some people will never trademark their business name, especially if it’s their own name, because it’s not their main identifier for their business, but rather their signature program would be.

You want to trademark to have ownership of a name. Having your LLC only gives you a license to do business under that name, but you still won’t necessarily have ownership of that name unless you trademark it. For example, you can set up an LLC in New York, but that won’t stop someone else in another part of the country from setting up an LLC under the exact same name as yours.

Benefits of trademarking a name

Trademarking is a big part of brand recognition because it means that no one else in the US can have the same or similar name as your product or service within your industry. You won’t be at risk of someone setting up another product or service under a similar name and have audiences falsely associate that product with you, or vice versa to the other company. 

Think about it this way: would one consumer look at two goods or services and think they were from the same business because of how similar the names are? If so, that is where 1 of the businesses would want to be trademarked, so they could stop the other business from using that same or similar name so that there is no confusion between your brand and someone else’s.

The only time you can have a similar trademark to someone else is when it is unrelated goods and services. For example, Dove chocolate can exist along with Dove deodorant because when you look at them side by side, you can tell that they are completely different types of goods. However, if someone were to try to pop up and register a new Dove handwash, they might have a problem because it could be too similar to the already existing Dove deodorant. A consumer looking at it in a store, where the products would be stocked near each other, might not be able to differentiate that the products are from two different companies.

When do I need to register a trademark?

There’s no set timeline for when it’s best to register a trademark, just do it when it feels right for you! (But of course, the sooner the better, if you want ownership over it). Some business owners do it way before they launch something because they already know what name they want to use for a product or service and don’t want to lose ownership over it, but some don’t register a trademark until years later, or never if they don’t want to. However, there’s always a risk that in not registering, someone else CAN and then try to prevent you from continuing to use your name, which can be very costly!

The way I would gauge whether you want to trademark the name of a product or service, or another source identifier is: Would you be upset if you found out someone else trademarked that name first, and you would have to change yours or rebrand entirely? 

For example, some people start their businesses with a group program in mind, but they’re not sure if it will be their signature program, and put off trademarking it. But if you know right away that something is going to be around for a while in your business, it’s a good idea to claim ownership of that name by registering a trademark as soon as possible.

The process of trademarking can take a long time because there are many different phases you have to go through, including searching for other trademarks to make sure they aren’t too similar to someone else’s. Generally, the sooner you can start the process the better, because you don’t want to risk any disputes if someone tries to register a similar name, and you get refused or have to come up with a different name altogether. 

Do you have any other questions about trademarking that I didn’t cover in this post? I offer 30-minute trademark consultations where we go over the trademark process and if it is something that is beneficial for your business right now. Book a call today!